A 9-year-old Belgian child prodigy who was set to become the world’s youngest college graduate has dropped out of his Dutch university — after it postponed his expected graduation date.
Laurent Simons gained widespread media attention last month as he was on track to complete an electrical engineering degree at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.
But on Monday, the university told the youngster and his parents that a later graduation date would be more feasible, considering the number of exams Laurent still needed to complete before his birthday on Dec. 26.
In a statement, the university said it offered Laurent “a still phenomenally quick scheme in which he would end his education mid-2020.”
“Laurent is an exceptionally gifted boy, who is going through his studies at an unprecedented pace,” the statement said.
But the delay was unacceptable for Laurent’s parents, who declined the offer and pulled their son out of the university.
“Until last week everything was fine, and now suddenly they see a delay of six months,” Laurent’s father, Alexander Simons, told Reuters on Tuesday.
The family said it seemed that the university was reacting to the family’s decision to have Laurent complete his PhD at different institution — in the US, CNN reported.
But in a statement issued to CNN, university spokesman Ivo Jongsma insisted, “We never try to keep our students to ourselves. It would never be a motivation to frustrate somebody.”
Jongsma added that the family had been open about Laurent’s intentions to eventually study in the US.
“His supervisors enjoyed working with him, not only because of his enormous talent, but also because he is a very kindhearted and inquisitive boy,” the university said in the statement. “The door is therefore still open for him to resume the study as long as the conditions remain realistic.”
The family has not yet settled on a start date at the US university and declined to publicly name the institution.
As the prodigy’s education and career progress, Laurent — who takes inspiration from Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla — already has an ultimate goal: to develop research artificial organs and ultimately develop an entire artificial body.
“There is a lot of interest in Laurent from universities he would be honored to join,” his father said. “There is so much demand for Laurent, he is a unique project which everybody wants to be a part of.”
Guinness records indicate that the youngest person to ever obtain a college degree is American Michael Kearney, who achieved the feat in June 1994 at only 10 years and 4 months.
With Post wires